Follow Us

More

Supernatural: 20 Things That Make No Sense About Dean And Castiel’s Relationship

Despite the many years that Supernatural aired, there have only been a handful of mainstay characters. Dean and Sam Winchester (Jensen Ackles and Jared Padaleck) naturally make the list. Crowley (Mark Sheppard) lasted a pretty long time as well. No one, however, made quite the impact as Castiel (Misha Collins).

Dean’s very own Guardian Angel, who lifted his soul from Hell in order to stop the Apocalypse, remains a fan favorite amongst the cast. Honestly, who doesn’t love Cas? The weird, nerdy angel continues to love and explore humanity. He tries to do his best by them, though his grand gestures don’t often work.

In Castiel, Dean made the best friend that he never truly had growing up. Sure, he has Sammy, but siblings and best friends can be two very different animals. Over the years, the pair have developed an unbreakable bond with each other. They perhaps are more than best friends, but more than brothers as well. Dean and Castiel’s relationship remain undefinable.

Even though their relationship has become one of the cores of the show, second only to only Dean and Sam’s, Dean and Castiel still don’t make sense at times. They go back to behavior that has only hurt them in the past. Yet the duo continues to revisit these patterns of behavior, only learning some of the time. It just doesn’t add up. Let’s look back over almost a decade of Dean and Castiel’s friend.

Here are 20 Things That Don’t Make Sense About Dean And Castiel’s Relationship.

20 Castiel Was Chosen To Save Dean

As every good Supernatural fan can say, Castiel was the one to raise Dean from Perdition and restore him. Why, exactly, was Castiel chosen to be the one to do so?

In the early days of the show, Castiel was just a soldier.

While many angel laid siege on Hell, Castiel was the one to ultimately rescue Dean. According to him, it was because “God commanded it." Yet, as we know, God was hiding out as Chuck Shurley (Rob Benedict) at the time. He wasn’t in Heaven at the time.

Who commanded it? Michael? Raphael? Why didn’t they go and save Dean over Cas? Dean, after all, is the vessel for Michael. Shouldn’t it have been Michael who went down to save him?

19 Castiel Hid From Dean

It’s safe to say that Dean and Castiel’s relationship got off to a rocky start. Dean woke up alone in his own grave. Castiel attempted to use his true voice and burned out Pamela’s (Traci Dinwiddie) eyes.

Needless to say, Dean was already super suspicious of Castiel by the time that they met. It looks like, however, that Castiel already was in possession of Jimmy Novak’s body by this time. Given the important role that Dean was going to play, it would have made more sense for Castiel to just appear to him earlier on.

He should've appeared when Dean dug himself out of the grave rather than setting himself up as someone inherently suspicious. It colored a lot of Dean’s interactions with the angel early on.

18 Dean Can't Hear Castiel's True Voice

Castiel does try to contact Dean early on using his true voice. Dean, like most humans, cannot properly hear it. Instead, he reacts in pain to the high-pitched screeching noise which explodes windows in a shower of glass.

Still, it raises a couple of questions. Dean is the Michael's vessel and has been saved by Castiel.

If his body is made to hold an archangel, it stands to reason that he should be able to hear the true voice of angels.

At the very least, he should be able to hear Castiel’s voice since Castiel saved him from Hell and restored him. Dean and Castiel have a connection from this restoration.

17 Castiel Abandoning Dean For His Human Life

During season nine, Cas found himself entirely human after Metatron (Curtis Armstrong) locked the gates of Heaven. Hunted by former angels and kicked out of the bunker, the former angel had to carve a new life for himself.

Yes, Sam and Dean have done exactly that many times over the seasons. They always came back to the hunting life, though. It pulls you back in no matter what. Still, when they needed Castiel the most, after he established his new human life, he did not return. He essentially abandoned Dean, who needed his help.

While humanity is difficult and feelings were hurt, these two don’t just abandon each other. Cas is just as much part of the family now. Winchesters, by blood or bond, don’t abandon each other for long.

16 Dean Using Castiel As A Sam Replacement

It’s only in the past couple seasons that Sam and Dean have repaired their relationship to its former close bond. In the middle seasons, the brothers were more reluctant allies than anything else, though obviously bound together by blood and love.

During that time, Dean would use Castiel as a replacement for his brother, taking him out and having him help on cases.

While it’s clear that this was meant to build the relationship between Dean and Cas, it was at Sam’s expense.

Rather than the brothers genuinely trying to fix things, it would just drive them further apart. Perhaps this is what led to him giving Cas the same easy, maybe easier, forgiveness that he once gave his brother.

15 Castiel Ditches Dean In Purgatory

We can forgive Cas refusing to return with the Winchesters in season nine. They did kick him out of the bunker. Before that, however, Castiel and Dean end up in Purgatory at the end of season seven.

As we learn in flashbacks, Dean did his best to protect the vulnerable and still addled Castiel during this time in Purgatory-- until Castiel abandons Dean! He just straight-up abandons the guy who’s his best friend and who has been protecting him. Sure, he thought he was protecting Dean by doing so, but it was still a terrible plan.

Dean takes Cas leaving hard. Eventually, he forges a deep bond with the vampire Benny (Ty Olsson). The pair escape Purgatory together. During their interactions, Dean clearly had a transference thing going on with Benny after Cas’ abandonment.

14 Their Different Lifespans

Castiel and Dean are vastly different beings. Cas has lived eons, an almost incalculable amount of time. Dean Winchester will, at best, maybe live to his seventies. Given Dean’s track record, we’re not entirely sure about that. So why, when they have such drastically different lifespans, does Cas keep sacrificing himself for Dean?

Cas has been eliminated several times over the course of the series. So why does he keep sacrificing himself for a guy whose lifespan is less than a blink of an eye to him?

He could be an incredible force of good even after Dean is gone.

Loyalty to your friends and wanting them to survive is noble, but Cas’ willingness to throw eons of his life away for Dean's few decades doesn't really make sense.

13 Dean Didn’t Notice Cas Going Evil In Season Six

It didn’t take a genius to realize that something was off with Cas in season six. Why wouldn’t there be? Heaven was in the middle of a war. Cas attempted to stop the senseless destruction of his brethren. God wasn’t coming in to stop it, not at all.

Still, attempting to become the new God by opening Purgatory and absorbing all the souls within it was not the best plan in the world. In fact, it was villainous.

Why didn’t Dean notice that Cas was going down a bad path? Yes, the eldest Winchester had to contend with a soulless brother and returning to the life. Even so, he should have noticed that Cas wasn’t entirely there. He noticed when Sam was off in season four, and he should have picked up on this too.

12 Their Weird “Two Dad” Relationship With Claire

Claire Novak (Kathryn Love Newton) has not had the easiest of lives. Her father, Jimmy, was possessed by an angel, left his family, and then passed on without really saying goodbye. Her mother, Amelia (Wynn Everett and Leisha Hailey), also abandoned Claire with a grandmother.

This left Claire with a being that wore father’s face, who felt the need to watch over her. In fact, Cas and Dean seem to have a bizarre fatherly relationship with Claire, despite all the trauma and pain they have caused her.

Cas feels the need to atone for taking Claire’s family away from her. Dean has always had a weak spot for kids who get normal taken away by the supernatural.

Still, Dean and Cas have this weird need to try to parent Claire. It just makes it awkward to watch them try to be happy-ish family.

11 Their Endless Cycle of Resurrection

No wonder the reaper Billie is a bit annoyed with Team Free Will. Sam and Dean have perished multiple times. Amongst angels, Cas has been resurrected five times.

When they sacrifice themselves now, it just doesn’t have the same emotional impact it once did.

Yes, the willingness to sacrifice to save others is an admirable quality. Cas and Dean still mourn each other when they appear to have passed on, but the audiences doesn't buy it for a second.

Instead of this unending cycle of loss and resurrection the show needs to figure out to do something new. The finality of the end of life means nothing at this point.

10 Dean Forgives Castiel Too Quickly

Dean tends to be stubborn when he feels that he’s been wronged. When Dean’s trust is broken, then it is hard to repair it.

A main plot point across several seasons is Dean and Sam working to forgive each other for secrets kept, manipulations made, and lies told. Sam shattered his older brother’s trust in him. The Winchester brothers have being doing a "two steps forward, two steps back" dance ever since. Yet when Castiel betrays Dean, he’s pretty quick to forgive the angel.

The only time that he wasn’t quick to forgive him was in season seven when Castiel unleashed the Leviathans on the world. Even that only lasted a few episodes.

9 Dean’s Weird Obsession With Castiel’s Personal Life

Dean spends a good chunk of his time helping Castiel get acquainted with humanity. Of course, this being Dean, most of it tends to focus on the pleasures of life: good food, strong drinks, awesome television, and beautiful women.

Dean has a very, very strong fixation on setting Castiel up with a woman-- any woman.

He’s oddly focused on it, especially in the season five episode “Free To Be You And Me”, when he takes Castiel to a gentleman’s club in order to facilitate it.

When Castiel becomes human in season nine, he meets April Kelley (Shannon Lucio) and finally, it happens for him. When Sam and Dean are informed of this fact, Dean literally chokes on his food. It’s just strange.

8 Castiel: The Only Nice Angel

It was an interesting twist when Supernatural revealed that many angels are just as ad as demons. Some angels have worked on the side of the Winchesters when it suited then. Inevitably, however, they would betray them or reveal themselves to be just as bad as the monsters they were fighting.

Castiel, despite some hiccups, has largely remained heroic and loyal to Dean. Even when Naomi (Amanda Tapping) tried to brainwash him into destroying his friend, Castiel broke through it.

It doesn’t make sense that Castiel is literally the only good-hearted, free-thinking angel.

There has to be, at least, one more, right? Even Anna was much colder than Castiel.

7 Thinking They “Deserve It” When They Hurt Each Other

No one deserves to be hurt by a person they care for. Still, Dean and Castiel have a distressing tendency to allow the other to hurt them. At times, they even think that they deserve the punishment-- like when Dean beat on Castiel while under the Mark of Cain’s influence or when Castiel abandoned Dean in Purgatory because he thought it was his fault.

Dean even allowed the rage-infected Castiel to attack him, thinking it was deserved due to what he did with the Mark of Cain.

They always forgive each other for the pain that they inflict on the other. This cannot last forever. There’s only so many times you can attack someone before you can’t take it back, even under magical influences.

6 Dean Takes Castiel’s Abilities For Granted

Dean Winchester is an infamously resourceful hunter and hero. Since he's often the scrappy underdog, he's used to using whatever's available to him in a fight-- Castiel's vast and inconsistent abilities included.

However, he takes things too far when expecting Cas to solve all his problems with a touch of his grace. Dean continually exploits Cas' abilities, and then gets angry when Cas doesn’t drop everything to come help him out.

Dean’s a smart guy. He built an EMF reader out of scraps. He has out-thought hundreds of foes.

It’s frustrating to see him over-rely on Castiel’s abilities time and again.

5 Castiel Waits To Let Dean Know He's Alive In Season 7

When Cas tried to become the new God and released the Leviathans onto the world, it looked like he was done for good. For most of season seven, his end certainly appeared to be super permanent.

It led to everyone, especially Dean, struggling with their feelings about the departed angel. It was a shock when they learned that Cas was alive, albeit not necessarily in the best shape mentally.

Given how much Dean mourned for his friend, it seemed cruel to keep him in the dark for so long.

It probably contributed to his extended anger at Cas. These two need each other, and denying Dean for his own good was just wrong.

4 Continually Keeping Secrets From Each Other

Something that never appears to quite sink in for any Supernatural character is tjat keeping secrets isn’t good for anyone. Dean and Cas are definitely not exempt from this rule.

To be fair, some of their secrets are meant to help each other, such as Dean not telling Cas that Metatron’s spell cannot be reversed in “Heaven Can’t Wait”. Others, however, can definitely hurt each other, such as Cas working with Metatron or Crowley (Mark Sheppard).

Needless to say, keeping secrets, even with the best of intentions, tends to backfire on this show. Usually, this backfiring can lead to another Apocalypse-- or worse.

We’ve definitely had way too many of those on this show. Until they learn not to keep secrets, it looks like we’re stuck in another vicious cycle.

3 Dean's Uncontrollable Anger

Dean definitely has a bit of a temper problem. Given the nature of the work and the frustrations that come with it, it’s not that much of a surprise. Dean’s a passionate person and gives everything his all.

His temper rears its head at inappropriate times, such as when he kicked Cas out of the bunker or after their reunion in season seven.

The anger is justified, but the actions are a bit rash-- especially considering that the latest Apocalypse is breathing down their necks and Cas can definitely be a help.

Anger is an emotion that needs to be felt, but Dean needs to vent it at the right moment instead of the heat of them.

2 Dean Not Noticing "Casifer"

In season eleven, Cas was possessed by Lucifer for multiple episodes while Lucifer enacts his plan on Earth. During this time, Dean didn’t realize that something was up with Cas.

While Dean can be oblivious at times, he does notice when something’s not entirely right with his family and friends. It just seems like a major oversight on Dean’s part to not notice that Cas wasn’t entirely himself during his possession.

Dean helped defeat Lucifer the first time around, and Lucifer wasn't exactly doing a great impression of Castiel. He was way too animated and always smiling in a creepy way.

1 They Aren't A Couple

Having strong platonic male friendships on television is awesome. We love them. Yet, at some point, the context clues and even context of the show pile up to make us: why aren’t these two a couple yet? No one on television gets this more than Dean Winchester and Castiel.

Over the years, they have sacrificed for each other, stood by each other’s side, and admitted they love each other.

Even the villains know of their deep bond. Naomi even directly mentioned their love for each other back in season eight.

All the sacrifice, all the tears shed, all the love for each other, they have been through it all together. So why not bite the bullet and have them just make things official already?

---

What else doesn't add up about Dean and Castiel's relationship on Supernatural? Let us know in the comments!